Brisket Loss

[krj]

How much weight loss do you guys normally account for on a brisket before trimming and cooking? I did two up yesterday, keeping track of my weights because I need a decent figure for a large event I'm doing in a few weeks.

1 2
Starting: 9.63lbs - 13.72lbs
Trimmed: 6.63lbs - 10.04lbs
Cooked: 3.625lbs - 6.00lbs

So overall I had a 62% loss on the first and a 56% loss on the second.

 

[jcam222]

That right about what I get. I wag it at 50%. Big reason I’m so pumped about my first chuck cold smoke. Almost zero trimming loss with around 30% max on cooking weight loss.

 

[schlotz]

On a typical 15# packer I usually trim off close to 3#'s

 

[sauced]

Yep, that is about right! Brisket here in the Northeast is way to expensive so I usually do chuck roasts for either sliced or pulled or chopped.

 

[krj]

That's what's so weird here where I am, chuck roast is pricey. I'm talking like all I've found is $4ish a pound or chuck roasts, where as brisket is $3.24. Now figuring a 50% loss for brisket compared to a 30% for chuck, the chuck does come out a little cheaper per pound. Just not a huge amount cheaper. Plus I can't find very large chuck roasts, I don't think I've seen one bigger than 4lbs. So if it comes down to serving say 100 people and working 6-7 briskets compared to 13-14 roasts. Correct me if my math is off, it's all head math.


I did stumble upon chuck roll, which is actually fairly close to the same price point as brisket. I've never cooked with chuck roll before, so I'm not sure how similar it is to brisket or how much loss to expect. I mean if it's 30% loss at the same price, and the quality is just as good as brisket , then it'd totally be worth using to help my price points.